Media Buying Socially: facebook Ads for Marketing Your Business

For the emerging Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, internet has proven to be one of the greatest business strengths. The business ecosystem has evolved rapidly globally. SMEs, which are the backbone of every emerging economy always have this challenge of embracing this change to grow to the next level.


One of the key aspects of business scaling up is: Marketing

Marketing is key to every businesses' success. While SMEs have limited budgets to invest into marketing activities, there are low cost options available to them which can help them reach out to the relevant target audience while keeping a tab on the return on investment.


What are SMEs really looking for, from their Marketing activities?

SMEs look for returns in the form of business leads and business generatiion from marketing initiatives. A qualified business lead/ sales are really the first thought they have while investing into marketing activities. In our experience of interacting with SMEs, conversion rates have to be really high for SMEs to sustain and expand their marketing budgets and avenues.


Leveraging Internet as a Marketing medium: Advantages:


    * Low cost of outreach
    * Quick implementation
    * Measurable results
    * Increasing presence and availability of target audience

Tool Focus: facebook Ads

We are sure almost everyone reading this blog post must have at-least heard about facebook. Being one of the world's largest Social Networks, facebook is a powerful platform which helps you perform many functions and achieve results, other than the basic most of, staying connected with friends and family!


The above screen-capture reveals what facebook Ads look like. If you haven't paid much attention to them yet, these are the dynamically changing and popping Ads which appear on the extreme right section of the facebook profile page that you have while you are surfing other profiles and pages.


What are these Ads, who is running them and how are they being targeted?

Well, simply speaking, these Ads are like what appears in the classified section of your NewsPaper. They are promotional messages about a product/ service/ proposition. Anyone around the world could be running them, from a company to an individual.


Facebook Ads are being run and supported by a powerful Ad engine in the back-end which ensures that the Ads are highly targeted to the relevant segment which the Ad creator has suggested as part of the conditions set while targeting these Ads.


The screen-capture below shows how you can target the Ads, by Country, Cities, Demographics like, Age, Gender, Likes and Interests.

Based upon your set preferences in the Ad engine, your Ads appear in the right hand section of your 'target audience's' profile page, while they are surfing facebook.


Being Ads, they must be paid for, how?

Yes, media buying is an activity which is always paid for. Facebook charges you directly through your Credit Card, which you add to your facebook Ad account while creating and running your Ad.


Before we talk about billing, lets look at how facebook suggests, what would you need to invest to run these Ads and how big a target market is available, based upon the conditions you have set in the Ad engine for maintaining high relevancy in targeting.


While you will be creating your Ad and filling in the conditions of targeting to the relevant audience globally/ locally, facebook will dynamically suggest you in terms of the number of people who will potentially be the audience for these Ads. If you think its a good enough potential market that you are exploring, you can go ahead and attach your credit card with your account and start your Ads.


What are the various billing models?

As an SME, strict on returns, it is always advisable to run facebook Ads in the CPC (cost per click) mode. You are billed for only when the target audience you suggested clicked the Ad. If they have not, you will not be charged a penny. Though there is always the CPM model, where you can pay facebook a suggested cost per thousand impressions, which may be advisable when you have a brand building campaign to run.


While setting the Ads, facebook automatically tells you the expected range of bids that you must place for your Ad to successfully appear amongst the relevant target audience as suggested by you on facebook. Based upon these numbers, you can actually do simple mathematics which helps you be pre-informed as to how much money should you spend and what sort of returns can you expect!




What are the top success factors for these Ads to garner a good response?

    * Strong creative(s)
          o Since facebook Ads allow only a few characters in the headline of the Ad, similarly in the Ad body as well, the graphic image is a major point of attraction
    * Strong Call to Action
          o What action do you want people to take after seeing your Ads? The call to action must be very strong.
    * Relevant targeting
          o Since the same set of users might be getting interrupted with Ads from many other brands, there has to be an incentive for them to stick with you and choose you

facebook Ads can sure fetch you relevant target audience either if you redirect them back to your facebook fan page OR to an external WWW source such as your website.


To know more drop in a comment and our team of experts will be happy to get in touch!

Want Qualified Leads: Google Ads Work Wonders for SMEs

In our last post we discussed how SMEs can improve Purchase and Sales by using online tools available to them for free.

What are the tools available online to generate Qualified Leads online?
Tool: Google Adwords

This question is best answered by Google itself on the Google Adwords page. In its simplistic essence Google Ads basically is the advertising platform provided by Google. These Ads appear as a result of your search. Ads appear under 'Sponsored links' in the side column of a search page, and may also appear in additional positions above the free search results.

This sounds interesting: tell me the process
Setting up a Google Adwords account is a process which takes not much time. You can either do it yourself or if you are very new to it, you could take advice from an expert who has already done it.
To create a Google Adwords account, please follow the steps below:

• Start by clicking on this link https://adwords.google.com.
• Click "Start now".
• The radio buttons help you indicate the user name and password you'd like to use for setting your  AdWords account.
• If you already have an existing Google account, which you would like to link up with your Google Adwords account, you can simply do that, the only thing to be ensured of here is that the Google account you enter has not previously been linked with AdWords.
• Click Create account (or Continue if you already have a Google Account):
• Existing Google Accounts: If you used an existing Google Account to create your AdWords account, you will directly be able to sign in to your AdWords account.
• New Google Account: If you used new login information, you'll receive an email asking you to click on a link to verify your email address. Click on the link in the message and then sign in to your AdWords account with the email address and password you used to create your new account

The Home Screen of Your Google Adwords Account will look like this:

I am logged in, what Next?

Once you are logged in on the home screen, in the left column you see "Create Your First Campaign" click the button, which will re-direct you to the "campaign" tab on the top menu.

Before you actually create your first campaign. You must have the understanding of the basics in terms of what sorts of Ads you looking to run and where should you place them.

Before you move on to create your first campaign, there are few pointers you need to be aware of:

• Decide upon what 'type' of Ads you are going to run: this also affects conversion and engagement!

Eg: are your Ads going to be only text-based OR are you going to run graphic banners OR are these going to be interactive Flash banners? 

Next important is:

• Be aware of the keywords which are relevant to your business, to help you target your campaign to the most relevant audience online

In the most simplest manner, you could use the free Google keyword suggestion tool, which helps you define keywords for a successful Google Ads campaign. The keyword tool is available as a drop-down option under the "Reporting and Tools" tab on the top menu on your AdWords account.

There are more advanced methods of understanding your target audience online, their behavior and trends, but for the basics we will stick with Google's keyword tool.

• CPC - Cost Per Click

As goes simple English language, cost per click is a mode in which Google charges/ bills you on the basis of every click which happens on the Ads that you run. This ensures your business ROI in the terms that you are charged only when someone who is a prospective target audience to you has clicked your Ad.

• Landing Page

Once someone clicks on your Google Ad, where would you want that person to be re-directed to on the internet? What information should he/ she see? For the same you must create a highly engaging and social landing page, which gives in a smart and precise manner the information about your product/ service/ proposition to the interested audience.

This landing page must also have a conversion form, which the user will fill and the details captured in your database.

Okay, I got it that Google charges me per click, is there something else I need to pay?

Not really, creating a Google AdWords account is a free service. The only thing which you are billed for is the performance of your Ads. There is no minimum spending requirement that Google sets for your business, though there is a one time Activation fee, which you can check for here.

Who controls my Ad spends?

Google allows you to set your own daily budget. There is no cap on it and you are always in control of your Ad spends. Our suggestion to all the people starting up their first Google AdWords campaign, is that you set a maximum daily spend budget and slowly as you get more familiar with the system, you increase the same.

Okay, I have also learnt there is a bidding system in Google AdWords, what is that?

Yes, there is a bidding system, which is pretty simple to understand. The most commonly used option is CPC (cost per click). Understanding the bidding system, is quite simple. The higher and smarter you bid, the better your Ads display. Also what you must keep in mind always is your competitors might be bidding on the same keywords as you are and hence you must dynamically research about your target audience online and ensure that your bidding process is monitored and evolved on a day-to-day basis.

Google also suggests default bids, but manual bidding is always more effective!

How can I ensure the best possible placement of my Ads?

Google AdWords empowers you to target your Ads globally, across geographies and also target your audience demographically. Based upon the search interests, Google Ads can be made to target the relevant audience globally.

What else should I keep in mind?

Google AdWords approves of the Ads first, only then your Ads are shown online. Also a critical aspect of the Ads is, if you are using someone's TM (trademark), you have to have a clear permission by the brand to use the same, which Google AdWords Legal team requires.

IndiaMART Knowledge Services Team always aims at creating growth opportunities for SMEs. We would be happy to help to help you kick-start your first Google AdWords campaign. For expert advice, drop in a comment and we will connect with you.

Free for SME's: Internet based Services to Help Your Business Grow: Focus: Purchase and Sales

As a result of constant interaction with SMEs, IndiaMART Knowledge Services Team has understood the various hurdles faced by them at different stages of business growth. As the business grows, there is substantial increase in the costs too. To address this concern, we bring to you free online resources which SMEs can use to expand their business.

Business Function Focus: Purchase and Sales
Purchase and Sales undoubtedly are two of the crucial functions for any business. For emerging companies, its all the more important. For any business to scale up sales are an essential aspect. There are many online tools and services, most of them free, available, which can be of immense help to emerging companies.

E-commerce helping SMEs grow: New Opportunities
Internet based technologies, especially the e-commerce, offers SMEs the opportunity to cut business transaction costs and find new customers and suppliers. Also e-commerce creates a whole new opportunity for SMEs to reach out and explore markets, both domestic and international without being present physically. This was not possible earlier.

Source: http://www.imobisoft.co.uk/App_Themes/images/ecommerce_process.jpg

E-commerce helps SMEs improve business operations
Not just new opportunities, e-commerce has opened a whole new opportunity for SMEs in terms of improving the manner in which they serve their existing customers.
Example in this case is the B2B marketplace, like IndiaMART: there are buyers and suppliers who are active on the online platform, looking to transact with global partners. Moreso, many businesses are using this platform to connect with prospective partners globally to add onto their business strength.

But what does it take for me to register my business on such platforms. And do they help me with marketing my business to International prospects?
Well, not much. Infact just your time and access to the internet. Registering on these platforms is free, the associated services may be charged though. And it is given that while you register your business on platforms like these, its not just that you are another one of the lakhs of listed members but your business actually fetches the right visibility. You are allowed to upload your product catalogue(s) for interested parties to see, across the globe.

So is E-commerce only for B2B? Are there B2C examples?
This is where it all gets more interesting. E-commerce in the B2C mode has been much prevalent outside India in the past. However, now it is catching up here as well. Though there are issues of online security constantly raised and addressed, but e-commerce is becoming a power to reckon with.

With the recent growing popularity of deal sites like: Groupon, DealsnYou, Snapdeal etc, the B2C e-commerce sure is gaining momentum. The initial trends have been only in the urban cities, but with mobility spreading across regions, increasing consumerism is sure going to make an impact.

But are products really selling?
For emerging companies, investing into internet technology has always been a time consuming decision. Though SMEs are well informed today, but the lack of strategic thought hampers the growth. There are many companies who have leveraged the services of online medium and reached pinnacle of  success.

There are many examples in the Indian context. One is flipkart.com, a major online bookstore. It started its business with a single focus on selling books but has now branched out into various other streams such as mobiles. Since then they have had a fantastic run online. Do we need say more?

But what lacks then, if its that simple? B2C E-commerce must have touched sky high?
In India, the transactional infrastructure including security is still being discussed and this is one point which has been a drawback for the B2C E-commerce. But as part of the evolving ecosystem, things are changing and with the consumer's being more educated, online consumerism is increasing in India.

Are there examples of online tools for increasing Sales?
In terms of Online Applications in the B2B space, the various E-commerce sites are:

• IndiaMART.com
• Trademart.in
• Alibaba.com
• ecplaza.net

For SMEs, engaged in the B2C domain, there are various successful networks as:

• ebay.in
• indiaplaza.in
• shopping.rediff.com
• naaptol.com
• shopping.sify.com
• homeshop18.com

As the world is evolving, online platforms are here to stay. Consumerism will slowly move online and hence as an SME, this is one change your business must adapt to.

The information has been sourced from 'Free for SMEs' report issued by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) in collaboration with IndiaMART.com.

IndiaMART Knowledge Services team will be happy to extend help in educating SMEs and help them  towards their growth. Drop in a comment to this post and our experts will be happy to get in touch!

Free for SME's: How to Create a Blog Using Wordpress Hosted on Your Server

IndiaMART Knowledge Services team aims at making knowledge available to SMEs to enhance their business growth. While we are covering the various 'freely' available solutions and services online, this post looks at blogging as an activity and blogging platforms as a service.

What exactly is blogging?
Blogging essentially is about sharing your thoughts on a subject on a 'weblog'. This Wikipedia article defines the blog well. It all started with websites. Even if we trace a couple of years back, websites were the most popular mode of communicating with your customer 'online'. With web 2.0 ushering in, the monologue has now evolved into a two way communication, with your customer's getting as much a chance to engage with your business and not just be at the receiving end of 'a' communication.

How is a blog of help to me/ my business?
A blog though a platform to express views, is a powerful mode of communication with your customers and not just that. Its a powerful mode of taking your message to the intended target audience. Instead of really maintaining a corporate blog, which has its own positioning. A content driven, high on call-to-action blog which shares insights about the business you are in, which lets your customers know you better and engage with you, which gives people interested in the industry, access to information is the best possible choice to make when making a blog.

How do I create my blog?
Even before we go ahead and do it, we must have the purpose clear in our minds. One of the basic most is, whether the blog you are creating, a personal blog OR an official blog! This defines many aspects, starting from the design of the blog to what content goes in there.

Now to the creation aspect: there are many 'free' blogging platforms available, eg:

• Wordpress
• Blogspot
• Blogger

The one platform which has gained most popularity lately is WordPress. A free blogging platform which has gained a global acceptance by the blogging fraternity. Its simple, easy to understand, a powerful content management system, scalable and is updated automatically.

Step-wise process to create your own blog, hosted on your own server

When we say hosted on your own server, we mean, the host where you have hosted your website. And just in case if you have not done any hosting yet, we suggest you choose any good web host (there are many available).

1. Once you have chosen the host, register a domain name: eg: www.xyz.com
2. Along with the domain also buy a hosting package which you can buy for 1 and more than 1 year.
3. Once the domain and hosting is activated, you will get access to a 'Cpanel', which will be provided by the host only
4. Login to your Cpanel and it will provide you with an easy (generally a one step) process to install "Wordpress" on your "domain name" which you have hosted: www.xyz.com
1. This is the simplest way to install Wordpress. The other way is to use a FTP client like filezilla (a free software which you can install on your desktop). fiezilla helps you configure your hosting on it and upload files. Download the latest version of Wordpress here and upload it to your root directory on the hosting server.
5. Once Wordpress has been installed, you will be able to access the back-end content management system as: http://xyz.com/wp-admin
1. Login with your User-id and password and you will reach to a screen (as shown in the sreen capture below)

Wordpress Dashboard

Once you are logged inside the WP (Wordpress) CMS (content management system) the first screen if seen all at once can be a little overwhelming, but its another 3-5 minutes and you will get a hang of it.

How to go about it?

Lets take it logically:

• Since its a blog, you need to choose/ design how it appears! Simply look at the screen in front of you and expand the link which says "Appearance" and click on the 'Themes' link. This will take you to a screen which will show you options and also allow you to upload new themes.

Wordpress - Theme Appearance

• Once the theme is existing, you will have your basic blog design in real time ready at www.xyz.com, as whatever changes you make through this CMS, get updated instantly on your domain.
• If you are not really a tech-enabled person, do not try to 'edit' the themes till you are well aware of PhP.
• Once you are done, now comes the real deal! How to write the first blog post?!
• On the home screen, the top drop-down option on the left sidebar will say "Posts". Click the "Add New" link on the same.
• What you see on your screen now is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get editor). Which means, whatever you will write, as it will look here, so it will appear on your blog.

Wordpress - Add new post

• Using the top menu of the editor, you can write your post and embed any kind of content in it. From Videos to Pictures.
• Once the post is done, press publish on the top right corner, in the right side bar, choose the category of the content you have written (you can create your own categories), add tags to the post and you are ready to go LIVE!!

For advanced users if this platform, Plugins and Widgets which are freely available and can add a lot of value to your blog!

Happy blogging. IndiaMART Knowledge Services Team will be happy to feature your blogs as comments to this post! Create a new blog and send it to us! For more help, leave a comment to this post and we will be happy to help!

Free for SME's: Business Networking through LinkedIn

The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team introduces how MSME's can leverage the power of freely available tools and services on the WWW, to their advantage.

Tool: Linkedin
Service type: Free and paid

How could it benefit business: overview

1. Global professional networking
2. Generating business leads
3. Reducing cost of recruitment/ talent acquisition

What exactly is Linkedin?

Simply speaking, Linkedin is one of the most powerful 'professional networking' online platform globally. People from all across the globe are free to create their professional profiles on this social network and are also free to network and connect with others.

Is Linkedin free?

There are many features on LinkedIn which are free and many others which are paid. The most basic one's which consist of creating a 'professional profile', creating your company's corporate profile, connecting with people are all free.

If you wish to advertise for jobs, send in-mails (to connect with people who wish to be introduced only through In-mails), Advertise (buying ad-space) on Linkedin, these are some of the features which are paid.

How should I go about using Linkedin?

Linkedin can prove to be highly beneficial for your business. Before you go ahead leveraging this network, the first thing you must be very clear about, is your business objectives, for which you are proposing to go online.

Let us help you arrive on some objectives, which you can achieve through Linkedin:

1. Reduce down cost of talent acquisition
2. Connect with global partners in your business domain: creating new alliances
3. Generating business leads
4. Keeping yourself updated about events in your business domain
5. Marketing your business

Let us now help you navigate through Linkedin and get you active online!

Login to your Linkedin profile (the screen will be as shown below)

Once you are logged in, your home screen will look like the following:

The top menu on the 'Home Screen' is the navigation menu, which provides you with all the options for navigating across features available to you.

The center of the screen, which essentially is divided into three columns, is the 'News Feed'. This consists of all the activities being done by 'your contacts' on Linkedin. Example, if me and you are connected on Linkedin and I like an update done by one of my contacts, it will show in your News Feed, that 'I have Liked this update' and if you find it relevant, you can comment/ liked the same.

How does this help your business?

The News Feed is free information flow. At times you may bounce across a new blog post/ a new presentation or something which is of interest to your business and if you find it. You are free to connect with the source of the information. Which means, if its a blog, you can click on the link, read the same and contact the author to benefit your business.

How else can it help me?: lets say if you happen to bounce across an update on your News Feed, which was done by someone relevant to your business in the US. You don't necessarily happen to know that person, but you think he/ she might be a good business connect. All you need to do is click on his/ her profile name and send a 'Connecting Request'. Hence effectively it took you only a few seconds, to get connected to someone in the US, relevant to your business, while sitting right here in your country.

Okay, I find this interesting! How can I effectively use it to market my business?

The key ways that you can use Linkedin to market your business are:

1. Create a powerful profile:
1. Ensure your 'profile summary' has all keywords relevant to describe what business you are in
2. Ask for recommendations: the more the better
2. Groups
1. There are many groups existing on Linkedin. They are both global and local in nature and have members who are interested in a "focused topic" which is relevant to their line of profession. Eg: if you want to network with global entrepreneurs, the following groups (attached screenshot) may interest you! And hence you may connect with these people and explore business opportunities. These groups are not "marketing tools", but they can help you propagate your message to the relevant segment
3. Answers
1. One of the powerful most features on Linkedin is the Q&A: (refer to the screenshot below). On the top menu, under "More" drop menu, the first option is called "Answers". You are free to pose questions on anything you would like to find answers on. The questions you ask, are propagated not only to the Linkedin members you are directly connected to, but also to many people globally who are till your 3rd degree network and are relevant to the domain to which the question pertains.
1. To each question you might find multiple people globally answering. These are the relevant people that you must network with. Many of them might be your next business leads/ partners/ alliances OR at times direct consumers!

Groups on Linkedin

________________

Question and Answers on Linkedin

Great, but reducing cost of talent acquisition?

While you can leverage the power of groups to propagate the Job openings you have in your company. You might also want to use the "paid" jobs feature which will help you propagate your job openings to the relevant target audience on Linkedin.

This actually helps you reach out to the relevant target audience (your future prospective hires), while not being dependant as a business on recruitment consultants.

Keeping yourself updated about events in your business domain:

Doubtless to say one of the best way to network with the relevant people globally in your network are events. Exchanging business cards at evens has always been the first connect creating step for any sales/ marketer. Linkedin has a dedicated "events" section, which is in the form of "User generated information". Companies and event organizers update their upcoming evens on Linkedin which are open to public.

You can easily search for the one's relevant to you and attend the same. What also is of extreme importance here is the fact that you can also see those people who are on Linkedin and are also coming to the event. Hence your pre-event networking starts right here, online!! (to access events, see the screen-capture below)

The information has been sourced from 'Free for SMEs' report issued by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) in collaboration with IndiaMART.com.
To know more drop in a comment to this post and our team of experts will get in touch!

Free for SME's: Internet based Services to Help Your Business Grow

Micro Small and Medium Enterprises form the backbone of emerging India and there are no two views about the same.  In the past few years, and through times such as the economic recession, the innovation and growth of the MSME ensured that the Indian economy maintains its sheen and strength. There have been tremendous employment opportunities created in the past by the MSME's and they are constantly being generated, while employing not only the urban Indian, but also creating a plethora of never before opportunities for the rural India.

In terms of value, the sector accounts for about 45% of the manufacturing output and 40% of the total exports of the country.

The Business Evolution: the Internet Revolution
One of the biggest evolutionary factors for the business ecosystem globally has been the advent of the Internet. We have evolved from being in just  a" having website" to the "web 2.0". The business dynamics have changed as the world has gone online. Well,  worth noting is that as perceived, not just the communications part has changed but, internet as a technology has changed how SMEs are scaling up and growing to the next level. Businesses have come to realize the power of the medium across operations, marketing, sales and many other intricate business functions.

The India MSME story
The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in India, for whom Internet is a major boon, are still not utilizing the full potential of the medium. Internet penetration in India is one factor, but the education on the usage is the other, which is a roadblock in the growth of the MSME. There are many industries which have adapted to the new media and mode and hence benefited, while scaling up.

A recent study by Assocham predicts that by 2012, the SME sector is expected to contribute 22% to India's Gross Domestic Product, up from 17% at present. 

Internet based services across the value chain for MSMEs: Focus Marketing
The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team has published reports before which have found their place in Business Standard. There are many free and cost -effective online applications which are available for all business processes that an SME may has.

Marketing is one of the key and crucial activities for any SME. Building a brand and creating and finding a recall with the customer is extremely crucial. And not just that, it is important for the brand to have a strong presence and recall in the market to attract the relevant talent from across the market.

The challenge here is the investment. There is a lot of money needed for marketing. Apart from hiring a team one has to invest into advertising, branding.

When we said 'Free' for SMEs, we meant it
SMEs can leverage the internet powerfully to achieve business objectives, while keeping their spending to the minimum. And at times at no cost at all. Most of the SMEs find it difficult to allocate funds for marketing due to budgetary constraints and depend on goodwill, personal-contacts and word-of-mouth for their sales.

There are many solutions available online which can take your emerging enterprise to the next level, without making a hole in your pocket. All that you need to do, is to be aware and that is what IndiaMART Knowledge Services team aims to achieve with this blog!

Which online tools can you leverage for marketing?

• B2B Portals

If your businesses' current and pressing need is to generate business leads, find suppliers, connect with buyers, create a global business, while not investing into creating global operations, the best option which is available to you for free or at a very low cost are B2B portals. The top B2B portals existing are:

1. IndiaMART.com
2. Tradeindia.com
3. BizXchange.in
4. Busytrade.com
5. Itrademarket.com
6. Indianyellowpages.com
7. Sme.in

But are these B2B portals giving any value or is it just about creating another account on a website with no results?!

A very valid question this. A proof in case will be IndiaMART itself. With more than 50 lakh buyers and suppliers registered globally, IndiaMART has helped many SMEs PAN India to develop global business.

And while we are looking at future growth options, we are seeing the trends where almost every small and medium enterprise owner (be it your corner tea stall owner) aspires to grow to the next level and hence B2B platforms like IndiaMART are the right choice.

• Social Networking

There is a buzz around now-a-days about social networking and we are sure, many of you would have heard of and a majority of you will be having their accounts on sites like: facebook, LinkedIn, twitter etc.

Let us first set and create the expectation that Social Networking is not a game for only the young and the kids. Its serious business. Some of the largest organisations globally are leveraging the power of this media to connect with their target audience globally and new business models are emerging out.

Social Networking is one of the most cost effective media to be leveraged to effectively market your brand to the relevant target audience.

Which Social Networking sites should I go to, for serious business?

1. LinkedIn: Professional networking system that can be used for marketing, business development and searching for new business contacts, customers and employees.
2. facebook: SME's can choose to market their service offerings by targeting its audience aptly by using its premium ad space or by creating a facebook page for the brand, which is a free service
3. twitter: SME's can powerfully use this platform to quickly spread news, connect with relevant people globally who are somehow connected to their domain
4. ibibo.com: SMEs can choose one of over 230 categories to list their business on ibibo CityAd for free and get leads on their mobile directly through ibibo's free SMS service. Other way is to use iPromote to promote business or website to others present or not present on ibibo.

Social Networking is no more just the buzz word. We strongly suggest that your business must leverage the power of this medium for effectively reaching out to the relevant target audience globally.

Source: http://alpha-web-design.com/web_images/grow-your-business-online.jpg

• Blogs

Blogging is one of the most powerful way of engaging your target audience to your message/ communication. Blogs as a medium of communication have been very effective, engaging and powerful. Almost every large organisation that we know of, either has 'a blog' or a 'collection of blogs'. A blog must be positioned across as the branding/ communication platform for your business.

Which are the platforms that you can quickly setup your blogs on and does it cost you anything?

1. Wordpress.org
2. Typepad.com
3. Blogspot.com
4. Blogger.com

There are many others as well, but these are few of the top and well known blogging platforms. You can download the installation from wordpress.org and install a custom blog on your own hosted server.

But who will blog for me? There has to be someone who writes!

Obviously this is a critical question. You have to have a smart team which understands not only your product/ proposition/ services, but also your customers and how your customers feel about your proposition. This will help the blog really gain acceptance and relevance in the target segment.

• Google Maps

Mark your business on the global map. Google maps is a free solution which helps you mark your business on the global map. And its not just about marking a presence on the map, its about the fact that your business is visible to people globally who are searching for directions on Google maps. Infact Google sends you monthly e-mails which allow you to know the number of times your business found an impression in front of the audience which was searching for either your business/ or something near by.

• Wikimapia

Wikimapia is an online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a Wikipedia

system, the largest online encyclopedia. It allows users to add information, in the form of a note, to any location on Earth. It is free and over 650,500 users from around the world currently are registered.

• Google hosted Email

The Google hosted Email solution was previously a free (fr the 1st 50 employees) and now is a low cost hosted Email solution for SMEs. All it takes is about 15 minutes to read all the instructions given by Google clearly and while following them, configure your mail server with Google hosted Email solution and you will have a perfectly working online hosted Email in no time at all.

This solution is scalable to any size, as your organization grows.

How can I access this service? 

This is the official Google Apps for business website where you can find not only the hosted Email but many other Apps available.

• Website creation

You can quickly build a good looking and fairly scalable website in less than a week's time using Wordpress as the content management system. Wordpress is a free solution which you can download on your own hosted server and build not only blogs, but integrated websites on the internet.

There are many WP experts in the market who cost you a very little and hence your official website can be built and managed in either no cost at all or a very little cost.

The solution is easy enough for you to get a hang of it in a few days, post which you may not really need much management support from your web design vendors.

• Free business Guides and Newsletters and News Updates

1. SME Toolkit:  This is an online resource centre to empower Indian SME's and help them become globally competitive. It also has free downloadable software tools such as the 'Business Plan Maker' the 'Website Builder' and a large collection of 'How To Articles' (http://india.smetoolkit.org/india/en/index)
2. SME Times: (http://smetimes.tradeindia.com/)
3. SME News: (http://news.indiamart.com/)

The information has been sourced from 'Free for SMEs' report issued by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) in collaboration with IndiaMART.com. 

To know more drop in a comment to this post and the IndiaMART Knowledge Services team will be happy to help you grow!

The Auto Components Sector in India: The Journey towards Growth

The importance and the contribution of the Small and Medium Enterprise sector in India, is well established. There is surely no denying the fact that SMEs are playing an increasingly important role in the emerging Indian economy. There are more jobs being created at all levels.

Inclusive growth:
While we talk about inclusive growth which is crucial for India to actually grow as a country, its an essential must for the Small and Medium Enterprises to grow to the next level. These include the SMEs established in even the rural parts of the country, which are bound together as industry clusters.

The Story:
If you take a close look at the Automobile sector in India, looking at the demand side of the story, the demand has increased multi-folds in the past few years. Especially from the urban areas, there has been an exponential rise in customer's buying trends. The recent consumption numbers from the Automobile industry has shown a rise in demand for high end vehicles. This is all happening while, markets globally are still recovering from the recession which hit the global markets.

The rise of the Automobile industry has fueled growth for the Auto Components industry as a resultant.

The Growth:
Since the year 2000, the Auto Components industry has not only grown due to the increasing domestic consumption patterns, but also due to the rise in International demand of high end, quality components. The manufacturing and labor costs being lesser in India, its all the more favorable for the Global auto component makers to either establish base in India (hence FDI flowing) or partner with well established Indian counterparts who are delivering or have the potential of delivering the desired quality.

The growth factors for the auto component industry that will drive potential growth are:

• Rising Domestic consumption patterns will boost the growth for the auto components industry. The still growing penetration with rising income levels will surely be a boosting reason for the auto components manufacturers
• FDI inflow. The entrance of global OEM's has attracted foreign investment in India. While considering Indian manufacturing quality and cost of production, many global OEMs are making India as their base for component manufacturing for their global plants.
• Increasing exports of Indian models: rising exports of Indian automobiles example, those by Mahindra, Tata Motors etc. have also boosted the brand and consumption of Indian auto components

What has been the real turn-around?

Apart from the already existing and increasing domestic consumption, the major boost has come from the opening up of the trade to foreign investment by the Indian Government, which has attracted global OEM's to set up base in India and partner with many established Indian companies. On the other hand, the auto exports  of high end Indian automobiles is also the driving reason for the rel turn-around of events for the Indian auto components industry.

Source: http://www.automotogadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/online-used-auto-parts-2.jpg

Analysis of the Indian Auto Component Industry: Strengths

While our team looked at many factors, the major strengths which really came out during our interaction and research of the industry are:

• Cost advantage
• Smart labor while at lower costs, at all levels
• Availability of high end Engineering skills
• Adaptability to new and established quality systems
• Inclusion of Emerging new technology, while taking cues from global manufacturing

The value the global OEMs have really added to the existing Indian Auto components industry is the increase in adoption of high end technology and also the investment into Research and Development, which has provided the much needed boost to come up with innovations which are in-genuine. This has also given the real brand visibility for *made in India* products in global markets.

What are the risks that can adversely affect this sector? 

Like any other business, even the auto components sector is dependent on many variables and hence these risks need to be taken care of:

• A global recession can have a direct effect on the consumption of automobiles globally, which will hit the auto components industry
• With the prices of metals and other raw materials fluctuating widely in the market, it affects the strategic direction being taken by auto components and may affect business decisions and hence growth

The production of auto components could grow upto USD 22bn by 2010 and India's exports of auto components could grow to USD 4.5bn (source: D&B).

To know more about your industry and get specialist insights, contact the IndiaMART Knowledge Services team by dropping in a comment to this blog post!

Textile Clusters in India Adopting Technology: A View into Project Vikas by Microsoft India

The Indian MSME's are tightly grouped into clusters. There are clusters of industries spread pan India, which are together working to take the respective industries to the next level of growth. The MSME has details on all such industry clusters present, their operational effectiveness and how they are building up, which industry clusters require what support and many more details.

Focus: Textile Clusters
Objective: to understand how textile clusters pan India are leveraging ICT
The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team has been closely studying the formation on such clusters and in our effort of bringing out some of the best practices being adopted by these clusters, we present to you, how the Textile Industry in India is being supported by large corporations like Microsoft to leverage the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The Background:
Textiles in India has been a generational trade and has been a strong value creator for the Indian economy. The production capacity in India has been increasing steadily, while maintaining the quality. The consumption patterns have also changed over years int he domestic market as well. As the buying power of the Indian consumer is increasing, the domestic consumption has grown to the next level as well.

Source: http://www.idea.org.np/ict%20training/ict%20training.jpg

The Need: Technology
The Textiles industry, though has grown multi-folds in India, the export numbers are steadily growing as well. What has emerged out as a pressing need for the industry is the adoption of technology. Being a traditional industry, Textiles has not really been highly active with adoption of technology, which has changed now.

Change: The Inclusion and Adoption of Technology
This change was pending since long and there have been many steps taken in the past to propagate the adoption of emerging technology for textiles industry which has now taken shape.
Microsoft India, under the aegis of Project Vikas, along with the Tirupur Exporters Association launched online solutions for the textile manufacturing SMEs in Tirupur. The solutions include an online Desktop, a Hosted Email and Unified Communications module. Project Vikas is an initiative which is launched with an aim of improving upon the productivity of these textile units, collaborating to form an emerging industry cluster.

But Why Online/ Hosted Solutions?
The online/ hosted model obviously leaves the power in the hands of the customer by allowing him/ her to choose from the various sets of services on offer. Textile SMEs now have the option of choosing what they really find relevant to their respective businesses and manufacturing set-ups and hence include only the same to enhance their productivity through technology adoption.

Similar technology solutions have been created for many Small and Medium Enterprises in India. Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services will keep bringing you more opportunities, which enhance your knowledge and help you grow!


To know more, you can always drop a comment to this post and our experts will be happy to answer!

Is Export an Option: An Outlook for SMEs

Small and Medium Enterprises while planning a foray into International Business, find the entire process of learning about the markets, the legalities and many other aspects of Intl. business taxing difficult. The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team has received the feedback from many emerging enterprises to help them understand the activities.

For some the basic question is: Why should I export?
One of the basic most answer to this question always is that the foreign markets are more profitable to do business with, where your business can make more margins on the total earnings. Also the emerging markets across the globe which are near to Indian shores are far more receptive to to business from India. There have been examples set by large companies like Bharti in the acquisition of Zain Telecom. There are many smaller examples already in line.

The market dynamics are changing: product life cycle is getting shorter, go to market plans are changing, customer is becoming more active and informed. With the changing scenario, small companies do need to scale up globally to remain competitive.

Exporting is not really a survival option, but a the part of business scaling up globally. Hence the decision making on exports must involve the strategic teams of the enterprise who are responsible for spearheading the business scaling up.

Source: http://unitedstatesexporter.com/common/imagelib/index.htm/707_420_280_crop_b2feb.jpg

What are the Benefits of Exporting?

• Decreased vulnerability to losing clients and economic fluctuations in the domestic market
• Increased sales
• Increased focus on innovation and expansion; with the opportunities provided by the Intl. markets new product/ service categories can be evolved
• Increased expertise and experience; starting from your global business development team to the real people on the ground (product/ services) team, each one learns the nuances of going global

Laws and Regulatory Framework

In many emerging markets the laws and regulatory frameworks are less taxing as compared to those in the domestic markets. Also, since the emerging global markets are opening up to widen their presence, they have relaxed laws and business regulatory framework.

Word of Caution

Exports obviously will not be desirable always for all products and services. There has to be a strong feasibility study done before deciding upon entering the export markets. Exporting has its own set of constraints which must be taken into account:

• Increased operational and administrative load on your existing business : your business must be prepared for the same
• Requirement for raising finance: your current business may have to raise up loans/ debt/ funding to fuel its expansion plans globally
• Requirement to train people: if your business is of a nature that you can serve the global customer sitting here in India, good, if you have to make exist a local team, you will have to recruit and train a team there, while setting the vision for the Intl. team
• Change in branding: your branding might have to be changed in the Intl. shores, people there might see and value your brand very differently as compared to what your brand is valued at in the domestic markets
• Sales: you might have to deploy a local sales team in the global regions which has more in-depth know-how of the markets and can effectively help you kick-start business

What about having a business partner there?

Yes, you can always operate legally by having a business partner in Intl. shores but with the caution that you must be well aware of the laws, as business might be conducted very differently there and as one of the most obvious reasons, you will have to have a lot of faith and trust in your business partner.

Everything must be done as per Intl. laws. and as a strong word of caution, you must ensure all paper-work is correct and in line.

Exports are critical for business scaling up but you have to ensure everything is in line. IndiaMART Knowledge Services team will be happy to extend help and help you grow! Drop in a comment to this post and share your experiences of going Intl.

Opportunity for SMEs in the Vocational Education Space: India Shining

The nearing budget 2011 has become the hot topic of discussion all around. Questions are being raised on the budget offerings for the emerging Indian economy. Each industry has its own set of demands/ needs and requirements.

For the SMEs its all the more crucial, as they are the one's who are creating a strong economic background for the emerging India. Hence they require all possible support to grow to the next level.

What are the new opportunities knocking on the door?
Recently, a major conclave 'National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework for Media and Entertainment Industry' happened in Delhi with Mr. Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development, Communications & Information Technology. On participating, we realized how the government is working towards increasing the scope for vocational education in India.

The change: The Opportunity
The objective of the event was to hear from the horses' mouth, the media and entertainment fraternity in India, to create a framework to formally integrate vocational education with current educational streams across schools and higher education space and provide an opportunity and incentive to students to explore the large universe of possibilities.

Many industry leaders present there agreed to the fact that such a step will not only meet the needs of millions of youth who aspire to join the emerging and evolving media and entertainment industry but also meet the human resource requirements of this talent-intensive industry in the coming years.

Education in India has always been focused towards creating an Engineer or a Doctor of a child. In the recent times as talent has emerged across domains, there are opportunities emerging which were not really considered mainstream.

Source: http://www.verparaaprender.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Vocational-Academic-Integration.jpg

Vocational education, mainstream!
For many entrepreneurs, this sounds like an opportunity. The Government is open for creating new partnerships, exploring exciting avenues and building new possibilities in the field of vocational education.This will further the cause of shedding light on many talent intensive industries which actually require mastery and need resources.

In tids and bits companies are doing their own training programs to raise and sustain talent. As the industry is yet not regularized, there lies a great opportunity for SMEs/ emerging entrepreneurs to create industry specific, tailored programs which generate value for the industry at large.

Vocational education - Talent development - Talent Acquisition
For the entrepreneurial minds, the burgeoning Indian education market is an opportunity to cater to. There have been many success stories in the recent past which have shown the power of this industry and its potential.

With the government opening their doors to discussing ideas and opportunities on building vocational education for the mainstream in India, there are underlying opportunities which many entrepreneurs can build upon while working in many models like PPP( Public Private Partnership).

Developing, acquiring and retaining the right talent has always been a pain area for the industry at large and the opportunity to address the same has come at the right time for the seekers. The industry and the emerging companies which can work closely with well qualified experts to deliver custom programs which generate certified professionals.

If you are passionate towards addressing this pain area, wish to add value to the future Indian talent and create possibilities for the industry at large, this is just the right time to explore opportunities in the education sector and add onto the success stories.

IndiaMART Knowledge Services is always committed to be the enabler towards growth for the emerging Indian SMEs. Drop in your comments to this post to connect with us

The Future Outlook for SME's in the Textile Industry

With the 'Incredible India' slogan cheering for India, the global markets is looking upon India with a positive view towards investments. With the government opening upto FDI in many industries, the SME sector in India is looking forward to future growth with high expectations.


Focus Segment: Textile
Capitalising on new and emerging opportunities will pose a challenge for the Textile industry. For the textile industry to be globally competitive it has to follow the following practices:

1. Learn and take note of the global best practices
2. Adopt the emerging technology
3. Innovate: in terms of product offerings
4. Creating a link to the global value chain

*The Indian textiles industry has established its supremacy in cotton based products, especially in the readymade garments and home furnishings segment. These two segments will be the key drivers of growth for Indian textiles. Readymade garment exports were worth US$ 8 bn in FY06 and will cross US$ 16 bn by the end of 2010, assuming a conservative growth of 15% per annum. According to estimates, investments in textiles are expected to touch US$ 31 bn by 2010.
Source: D&B

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwrJxUB6alULLID8JgSu3aUAzeKO0LptWykd2zt5BWsxPM_pgEOTrbHYFmMpPXGnqii0paZyOwouxlXbEdGqJiYzmqUB89yjPDVW0zglMFWneYuTwVNRYzHV4uVVJKbivjD2DNK-ILQjg/s320/india+textile+industry2

Growth driver in the domestic industry
As per the projections the real growth driver in the textile industry is going to come from the 'readymade garment' part of the business. The Indian customer as is moving up the value chain, while buying capacities are increasing and so is the consumption, is showing signs of fast and uptrend consumerism which prompts many textile companies to focus on ready-made garment segment seriously.

What changes are happening in the industry?
Forward business integration - look at Raymonds for an example. A family owned business, Raymonds has been a brand since ages in India. Younger generations today hear from their father's as to how they used to get quality cloth from Raymonds and how they still do. But looking at the current trends they have recently forayed into "custom tailoring" which is a part of almost every retail showroom that they have. Its now a one stop shop for all your tailoring needs.

What are other growth options?
Most of the big players in the industry are looking at in-organic growth strategies of which acquisitions are a major part. This obviously is a step towards going up the value chain. Though we have not seen large International acquisitions, but domestically there sure is some action happening on the ground. One of the major reasons for the same is for domestic players to rise up to the scale and size to win large orders from EU and US.

What resultants do we see for SMEs from here?
SMEs will sure see a major churn in the market. The weaving industry which will see a move upwards in the value chain as it becomes the backbone of the readymade garment industry. With India's key assets in terms of low cost labor and an increasingly young working class with increasing consumer consumption levels the textile industry will sustain a good growth momentum.

India though is poised to become a major outsourcing hub for the textiles globally, the one negative which will really have to be worked upon for the cumulative growth of the industry will be the fragmented nature of the industry.

Drop in your comments with your thoughts on the post and we will be happy to discuss and feature them here on our blog!!

What's With a Use Case? Winning Strategies for SMEs

Almost every Small and Emerging Business must have heard of the word called "Use Cases". Especially the IT and the Project Management companies which have for long created use cases and powerfully leveraged their power to streamline many processes which fuel execution.

What is a Use Case?
This Wikipedia article provides much needed clarity on Use Cases. Though it really talks about how use cases are used within system engineering at a higher level within the scope of software engineering.

The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team set forth to take key learnings of the 'Use Case' process to create a powerful, process oriented mechanism for Small and Medium enterprises.

Time to learn: leverage the power of Use Cases
When you go out to the market to buy something, the usuage of the product in your life is clear to you. Isn't is? Buying clothes in winter is about shielding yourself from cold.
Lets set the context: The most effective way to sell the execution of an idea is to describe the use of that product/ service/ proposition and then create and put forth the case first. An obvious question before you do that is, the information you need first hand. Obviously you would need enough information about your objective and then come up with a case compelling enough that it will sell and make a dent in the universe.

And how does it all merge within an enterprise?
Every step of forming up and growth! When a start-up, an organization is in its initial phases of building up the team, the core team has to create a really compelling case to ensure that talent other than them actually is attracted from the market.

When it is about scaling up and raising funds, the 'Use' of the funds has to be very clear to the founding team and a powerful and engaging enough case has to be created for the investors to be pulled towards and convinced of the potential of the idea.

Decision to invest into technology? The 'Use' of technology is clear and so are its advantages. We just need to ensure that we are clear on why should we invest into technology, its benefit for our business and hence make a compelling enough 'Case' for inclusion of technology in your emerging company.

Driving sales again is similar. Your customer/ prospective target audience has to be one with the 'Use' of what you are proposing to them. You must communicate the same 'Use', what your customer perceives of your product, to create a compelling enough 'Case' for your customer to buy.

What are we proposing?
For our emerging partners what we are suggesting is a 3 step Use Case Architecture (defined in the image below):

To know more about how you can make more compelling 'USE' 'CASES' for your business and take it to the next level, contact our IndiaMART Knowledge Services Team!!
Why not start with a comment to this post??

Keep a Hawk Eye on Your Intellectual Property: Tips to Guard Your IP

Intellectual Property is one of the most discussed topic in almost every conference we do. The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team does get many queries to understand the basics of IP and how can Small and Medium Enterprises safeguard their IP.

But small companies should not worry about : IP?
Every company whether large or small builds IP. Infact on the most basic level, your people are your IP. In our experience emerging companies are more focused towards creating a unique value proposition and hence strong Intellectual Property gets created alongway.
There is nothing to literally 'worry' about when it comes to protecting and managing your IP. Your business can create some fairly strategical methodologies and play by the basics to safeguard IP.

Tell me more, what should SMEs do?
*Disclaimer: there will be many other methods, but we are listing down a few one's which our partner SMEs have come up to us with.

Source: http://www.fsfarrell.com/images/TagLine2.gif

• Computers: an obvious machine to use

No office we can imagine would be running without a computer today. The dumb-box has evolved into a super computing intelligent machine and has changed the way work is done world over. How can you safeguard information?

There are many ways for information to leak out through emails etc. The steps that you can take are:

• Login through set passwords to the official network
• Make it mandatory for your employees to access your systems through a proper login id and password over a secure network. As a rule in your company make your employees to "log off" your official network every time they're away from their desks

• Paper: shredders you must use

Though we understand we have to go green and many things are going digital. There are companies which are trying to manage a paperless office, but paper is still being used. Many of our plans with strategy are made on paper first, which then get converted into scalable digital formats.

Be careful when you are using that old dustbin for throwing away those key sheets of paper which have really important information scribbled on them, including your bills, invoices, receipts. Shred these first using a paper shredder and only then throw them away.

• When your employees leave/ get terminated

Put in place a proper employee leaving system in your company wherein you ensure that every piece of confidential information shared is retrieved. Obviously you cannot work around someone's mind. But at least you can ensure the safety of all possible physical proofs of documents.

• If an employee is terminated, have him leave immediately without providing a chance to think about fiddling with any information
• Check the mobile phone data (make it a mandate)
• Remove the person's login information to your network immediately

• Sign NDA's

An offer letter given to your employees who you think might be accessing critical information, must also be made to sign a strict and formally designed and driven Non Disclosure Agreement, which clearly must state them to not use any information pertaining to the company/ client anyhow, other than as mentioned in their contract. The agreement must also clearly lay down the steps the employees need to follow as a code of conduct within the company's premises and off it.

• Create awareness: set a code of conduct for people with crucial information

There must be a set code of conduct for people with crucial information with them about your enterprise. They must clearly be made to follow a set code of conduct, when sharing any information about your company/ key employees/ new projects and any other key information that you consider confidential.

• There must be keys to every safe lock

Documents kept in your room, which is locked is not enough. Ensure where you keep your documents is a place which is properly under a key and a lock.

• Electronic safety - digital camera's

There are many new devices int the market which ensure that your workplace is under a hawk eye watch even when you are not around. Cheap and smart security solutions available in the market can always ensure that your workplace is being adequately looked after.

• Setting a clear guideline system for sharing information online/ on-mobile

In the world of open conversations on social networks, your organisation has to set clear guidelines which are followed by your employees in terms of what to say/ reveal when talking about your enterprise online/ on-mobile. Many large companies have already set such guidelines and they can be taken as examples to initiate this process at your's.

There still could be lapses. Emerging companies will have to come up with methodologies of safeguarding their information. To help you set such steps and methods in your organisation, contact IndiaMART Knowledge Services team for more information.

Choosing a Name for Your Next Success Story? Follow These Tips!

Doing business is not always about numbers, yes it is about them, but not when its about starting-up. What is the first thing (out of many) that every entrepreneur is concerned about? What will be thy name!

Yes, how to name your baby?
'Baby' here is not the literal human being we are talking about. The baby here is your dream, your business idea, the fire in your belly, the air you breathe and almost everything you own.

Just like there goes a lot in naming your baby, you think about a name with all the love, passion, life and give it a lot of thought. Similar is the process of naming your business venture.

What's in a name: quite a lot!
Over the past few years we have heard from many entrepreneurs, especially the start-ups who have been riding high on innovation, while choosing the best names to represent their dream ventures in the market. Lately with the Web 2.0 dominating, many new product and service companies have cropped up, which have given some very interesting names.

Lets get to the point, lets help you name 'thy name'
* If you follow these pointers we are sharing, we would appreciate a thanks as a comment to this post, if it helps you come up with a winning name :)

1. Naming is the first step in branding
    - The name sets the first tone for your venture to be remembered by your target audience. Depending upon your offering, it can be playful or academic or professional or edgey. Just don’t let it be boring. Break the 'sound' barrier, try listening to the name, the sound!

2. Your initials look good only as your initials
    - Many people, especially partners, use the initials of their names to name their ventures. Well, not really a smart move. Yes we know, there are some major companies in the world who are named this way, but they are 'some' and they have been operational since decades now and have a clear cut brand proposition and recall.

3. Help search engines search you
    - Let your company name be unique and still have that understanding, such that it is quickly optimized to be searched by search engines.

4. Think about legalities involved
    - Think about the legalities involved. Its crucial. The registrar of companies is the organization which can help you assess whether the name that you have chosen is really available or not. There are trademark issues which start-ups many a times miss.

5. Ask your customers
    - You are obviously clear about what you are aiming to do. There sure is a target audience/ market for the same which you are trying to communicate to. So go and communicate. Yes, communicate and ask your target audience how would they like your proposition to be. List down all the key-words which they speak of while talking about your proposition. Pay attention to the words they speak.

6. Region and Religion
    - Many geographies of the world might be sensitive to religion based issues. Keep a note of it.

7. Mean it right
    - A word in English language may have a negative meaning in some other International language. Your business has to be global now. Remember you have to have names well researched geographically.

8. Name has a color, context and shape
    - We are serious about this. Your business name is not just a name. Many a times, especially for product companies the name creates a picture of the prospective offering in the minds of the target audience. Your logo will have to communicate the same what your business name does.

Always remember to keep multiple names as options first hand with you as everything might fall in place but many a times, the names might not be available legally with the registrar.This has been the experience of many start-ups.

We know you are excited with your dream venture, we will be happy to know the name! Share with us as comment to this blog post :)

Seven commandments of business growth for SME's

Many Small and Medium Enterprises have approached us and asked about top tips given by successful entrepreneurs who have led small and medium enterprises towards success! Well, there is no magic pill, this we can ensure of.

IndiaMART Knowledge Services' Team spoke to many successful entrepreneurs
Our team of experts went ahead and spoke to many entrepreneurs who have created powerful success stories and have set examples for many others. Emerging entrepreneurs who are still in the starting-up or scaling-up phases of their business can surely learn from these examples.

Our experience of interacting with successful entrepreneurs has led us to create a set of experiences. These have been compiled after interacting which many entrepreneurs, who have raised successful businesses.

Source: http://tibcoblogs.com/cep/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/Succeed_5612.gif

The commandments of raising a Successful Enterprise (focus: business development)
Before we share our suggestions: this list might have missed some points or your experiences as an entrepreneur may not fit into these pointers. You might also want to add more suggestions to this.

We are open to hearing and will be glad to share your experiences:

1. Don’t waste your time going after business which does not aligns with your business vision                                                                              Many growing enterprises fall into the catch of quickly creating cash flow by serving everything that comes their way. Well, this is not a smart move as it generally takes you off your path.
2. The boss usually decides! Do you know the boss?                                      Business development efforts keep going on and on and the sales cycle keeps getting longer if you are not focusing on the right person who has the power of decision making. This ensures lesser cost of sales for SMEs. Hence go network with the right people.
3. Listen, Listen and Listen!                                                                             While your prospective customer is speaking, let him. Listening will do a world of good to you and your business than speaking and trying to justify and explain who you are. SMEs do have to talk about themselves initially as they may not be world class brands, but then you must have a well defined 20 second sharp and precise pitch which clearly states what you want to deliver, what is your USP and what do you bring onto the table and why should your prospect buy you than from your competition.
4. The client’s objective is more important than yours                                                                                                              From the point of listening emerges this fact. Your services are not meant to be 'sold'. They are meant to suffice your client's business objectives. This stands particularly true for companies which are into marketing services. Not everyone needs an apple and you must know that 'An Apple a day keeps the Doctor away' is only another sentence which someone once said.
5. A powerful, genuine recommendation is more effective than 500 people on your friends list                                                                                                                      In the times today of facebook, LinkedIn, well, everything has been reduced to how many you have?? But well, lets be honest about one thing. In Business one powerful recommendation about you and your work is far more stronger than those 500 odd friends you have on Linkedin, which may or may not serve much purpose.
6. There’s nothing worse than an unhappy client                                       Do we need say more on this?
7. If you get the business, it’s up to you to see that it’s well-handled                                                                                                                                          Execution is the key. Its the ultimate key. There's nothing more candid we can get on this. If your delivery fails, even if you are the best salesman out there, you will still lose the business, client and the trust and may be your brand in the market tomorrow.

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